Not many people know that Disney once made a horror film. Sort of...
Historically, the majority of Disney's live-action movies have been comedies and fantasy films, all intended for a family audience. Well known examples include MARY POPPINS, BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, SON OF FLUBBER, THE SHAGGY DOG, ONE OF OUR DINOSAURS IS MISSING, the HERBIE movies, etc. However, in the late Seventies and early Eighties, the House of Mouse flirted with making slightly more serious and darker family films. The spy/action thriller THE London CONNECTION, sci-fi bandwagon jumper THE BLACK HOLE, the WITCH MOUNTAIN series, and the surprisingly bleak and gritty Depression-era road movie THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN were produced during this period. Which brings us to THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS.
Based on a novel published in 1976, WATCHER was filmed in England and tells the story of an American family who move into a country cottage and make the acquaintance of their elderly next door neighbour, played by Bette Davis. The oldest of the family's two daughters (portrayed by teenage professional ice skater turned actress Lynn-Holly Johnson) starts to notice some strange events in the surrounding woods (lights and unexplained sounds) which swiftly escalate into a series of un-nerving visions and seemingly paranormal phenomenon. Johnson comes to believe that these events are connected to Davis's daughter, who vanished without trace several decades earlier. It eventually transpires that an occult ritual carried out by the local children as a dare during a solar eclipse caused a portal to open to another dimension. Davis's daughter was sucked through, while an alien creature was deposited here, and both have been trapped ever since. With another eclipse fast approaching, the phenomenon are the creature's attempts to persuade Johnson and the original children (now middle-aged and still traumatised to varying degrees by their friend's disappearance) to re-create the events of that night, so that the creature can return to it's own dimension and rescue Davis's daughter.
Unfortunately, having agreed to make a dark, supernatural movie, Disney then appeared to chicken out, and the shoot was apparently interrupted by many heated arguments between the producer and various Disney executives, with the latter calling for the material to be softened and made lighter. To make matters worse, Disney also decided to bring the films release date forward, to capitalise on the 50th anniversary of Bette Davis's first movie. As a result, WATCHER's climax, a fifteen minute long special effects sequence in which Johnson and the creature travel into the other dimension and discover Davis's daughter, unaged and in held in suspended animation inside a wrecked spaceship, couldn't be completed in time. Disney decided to leave this sequence unfinished and instead substituted a six minute long ending in which the creature and Johnson both vanish, with the latter promptly returning with Davis's daughter a few seconds later, without any proper explanation of what just happened or where Davis' daughter has been for all those years. Upon the film's release in 1980, audiences found the ending too confusing, so Disney swiftly yanked WATCHER out of cinemas and re-released it in 1981 with yet another ending, in which the creature is just a pillar of light, and Johnson remains in our world, with Davis's daughter simply re-appearing out of thin air. It is this 'official' version of the film that has been subsequently shown on TV and was released on VHS.
A few years ago, Anchor Bay hoped to release a Director's Cut of WATCHER on DVD, with the previously-unseen 15 minute original ending restored, but after much interference from Disney, the DVD (sadly only available on Region 1) eventually featured the 1981 'official' version of the movie, with the original ending and the 1980-release ending included as extras. The 1980 ending can be seen on YouTube, and although the creature is clearly an elaborate puppet, it's still bloody creepy and genuinely otherworldly.
Historically, the majority of Disney's live-action movies have been comedies and fantasy films, all intended for a family audience. Well known examples include MARY POPPINS, BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, SON OF FLUBBER, THE SHAGGY DOG, ONE OF OUR DINOSAURS IS MISSING, the HERBIE movies, etc. However, in the late Seventies and early Eighties, the House of Mouse flirted with making slightly more serious and darker family films. The spy/action thriller THE London CONNECTION, sci-fi bandwagon jumper THE BLACK HOLE, the WITCH MOUNTAIN series, and the surprisingly bleak and gritty Depression-era road movie THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN were produced during this period. Which brings us to THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS.
Based on a novel published in 1976, WATCHER was filmed in England and tells the story of an American family who move into a country cottage and make the acquaintance of their elderly next door neighbour, played by Bette Davis. The oldest of the family's two daughters (portrayed by teenage professional ice skater turned actress Lynn-Holly Johnson) starts to notice some strange events in the surrounding woods (lights and unexplained sounds) which swiftly escalate into a series of un-nerving visions and seemingly paranormal phenomenon. Johnson comes to believe that these events are connected to Davis's daughter, who vanished without trace several decades earlier. It eventually transpires that an occult ritual carried out by the local children as a dare during a solar eclipse caused a portal to open to another dimension. Davis's daughter was sucked through, while an alien creature was deposited here, and both have been trapped ever since. With another eclipse fast approaching, the phenomenon are the creature's attempts to persuade Johnson and the original children (now middle-aged and still traumatised to varying degrees by their friend's disappearance) to re-create the events of that night, so that the creature can return to it's own dimension and rescue Davis's daughter.
Unfortunately, having agreed to make a dark, supernatural movie, Disney then appeared to chicken out, and the shoot was apparently interrupted by many heated arguments between the producer and various Disney executives, with the latter calling for the material to be softened and made lighter. To make matters worse, Disney also decided to bring the films release date forward, to capitalise on the 50th anniversary of Bette Davis's first movie. As a result, WATCHER's climax, a fifteen minute long special effects sequence in which Johnson and the creature travel into the other dimension and discover Davis's daughter, unaged and in held in suspended animation inside a wrecked spaceship, couldn't be completed in time. Disney decided to leave this sequence unfinished and instead substituted a six minute long ending in which the creature and Johnson both vanish, with the latter promptly returning with Davis's daughter a few seconds later, without any proper explanation of what just happened or where Davis' daughter has been for all those years. Upon the film's release in 1980, audiences found the ending too confusing, so Disney swiftly yanked WATCHER out of cinemas and re-released it in 1981 with yet another ending, in which the creature is just a pillar of light, and Johnson remains in our world, with Davis's daughter simply re-appearing out of thin air. It is this 'official' version of the film that has been subsequently shown on TV and was released on VHS.
A few years ago, Anchor Bay hoped to release a Director's Cut of WATCHER on DVD, with the previously-unseen 15 minute original ending restored, but after much interference from Disney, the DVD (sadly only available on Region 1) eventually featured the 1981 'official' version of the movie, with the original ending and the 1980-release ending included as extras. The 1980 ending can be seen on YouTube, and although the creature is clearly an elaborate puppet, it's still bloody creepy and genuinely otherworldly.